To improve the performance of our website, show the most relevant news products and targeted advertising, we collect technical impersonal information about you, including through the tools of our partners. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy. For a detailed description of the technologies, please see the Cookie and Automatic Logging Policy.

By clicking on the "Accept & Close" button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your data to achieve the above goal.

You can withdraw your consent using the method specified in the Privacy Policy.

Almost 1,000 United States soldiers and the first shipment of the equipment for the American tank brigade arrived in Poland, the Polish Defense Ministry reported earlier this week.

"Almost 1,000 of US troops are on our territory today. The first [batch of] equipment has also crossed the Polish border," Ministry Spokesperson Bartlomiej Misiewicz was quoted as saying by Polsat TV channel.

The extra military presence is part of the Atlantic Resolve operation launched by the US military in April 2014.

The newly-arrived personnel are expected to take part in joint military exercises with European allies. The incoming tank brigade comprises some 3,500 service personnel, 87 tanks, 18 self-propelled Paladin howitzers, 144 Bradley fighting vehicles and over 400 Humwee vehicles.

In July, NATO held a summit in Warsaw, where defense ministers finalized arrangements to deploy multinational NATO battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, totaling around 4,000 troops. The summit also confirmed the deployment of anti-ballistic missile systems and radars in Romania and Poland and confirmed that the United States would deploy 1,000 troops in Poland.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia was concerned with "NATO’s course on deterring Russia, which undermines European strategic stability."

According to the minister, the alliance is "moving military infrastructure, troops and military equipment closer to the Russian border amid a growing number of massive military drills."

Lavrov also expressed regret that "NATO dodges professional dialogue with Russia."

By deploying American troops to Europe on a rotational basis, the United States bypasses existing agreements between NATO and Russia, said Dmitry Efimov, a military and security expert at the Moscow City Council.

"Currently, they are deploying a contingent to Europe on a rotational basis. By doing this, they bypass our agreements on the number of NATO troops along Russia’s border. NATO will conduct military exercises for the next nine months, and then the current contingent will be replaced. But there is nothing Russia should fear," Efimov told Radio Sputnik.

According to the expert, the move is an attempt by Washington to solidify its presence in Europe, at least at a tactical level.

"The fact that [outgoing US President Barack] Obama is desperately trying to deploy those troops as soon as possible proves his uncertainty in the future. They want to hold position in Europe, at least at the level of simple tactical moves," he said.

However, Efimov suggested that new US President Donald Trump and his administration are likely to revise this tactic since "Trump is more focused on America’s domestic affairs."

The expert also noted that joint drills with the US military is of "ideological importance" to European allies, rather than of strategic significance.

"Our European partners need to stay in good shape. What we are witnessing now is an attempt to find a foreign enemy, instead of fighting domestic ones. The terrorist threat level in Europe is high, and the 'Russian threat' helps distract attention. So, this is a PR campaign, in which the ideological importance [of the deployment of US troops] is much higher than its military significance," Efimov concluded.

By clicking the "Post" button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your Facebook account data to enable you to comment to the news on our website using this account. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy.

By checking this box, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your personal data to create an account on the Sputnik website for posting comments to news. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy.
You can withdraw your consent by using the feedback form or the method specified in the Privacy Policy.

* All fields are required

Please confirm your e-mail to continue. Confirmation instructions have been sent to

Hello,
!

We are committed to protecting your personal information and we have updated our Privacy Policy to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a new EU regulation that went into effect on May 25, 2018.

Please review our Privacy Policy. It contains details about the types of data we collect, how we use it, and your data protection rights.

Since you already shared your personal data with us when you created your personal account, to continue using it, please check the box below:

I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of creating a personal account on this site, in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

If you do not want us to continue processing your data, please click here to delete your account.

promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;

contains links to viruses and malicious software;

is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");

“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;

violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");

doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.